"Up, dear Matthew!" cried she, in haste. "The strange folk are all gone. Up
this very minute, or we shall lose the Great Carbuncle!"
In truth, so little did these poor young people deserve the mighty prize which
had lured them thither that they had slept peacefully all night and till the
summits of the hills were glittering with sunshine, while the other adventurers
had tossed their limbs in feverish wakefulness or dreamed of climbing
precipices, and set off to realize their dreams with the curliest peep of dawn. But
Matthew and Hannah after their calm rest were as light as two young deer, and
merely stopped to say their prayers and wash themselves in a cold pool of the
Amonoosuck, and then to taste a morsel of food ere they turned their faces to the
mountain-side. It was a sweet emblem of conjugal affection as they toiled up the
difficult ascent gathering strength from the mutual aid which they afforded.
After several little accidents, such as a torn robe, a lost shoe and the
entanglement of Hannah's hair in a bough, they reached the upper verge of the
forest and were now to pursue a more adventurous course. The innumerable
trunks and heavy foliage of the trees had hitherto shut in their thoughts, which
now shrank affrighted from the region of wind and cloud and naked rocks and
desolate sunshine that rose immeasurably above them. They gazed back at the
obscure wilderness which they had traversed, and longed to be buried again in its
depths rather than trust themselves to so vast and visible a solitude.
"Shall we go on?" said Matthew, throwing his arm round Hannah's waist both
to protect her and to comfort his heart by drawing her close to it.
But the little bride, simple as she was, had a woman's love of jewels, and
could not forego the hope of possessing the very brightest in the world, in spite
of the perils with which it must be won.
"Let us climb a little higher," whispered she, yet tremulously, as she turned
her face upward to the lonely sky.
"Come, then," said Matthew, mustering his manly courage and drawing her
along with him; for she became timid again the moment that he grew bold.
And upward, accordingly, went the pilgrims of the Great Carbuncle, now
treading upon the tops and thickly-interwoven branches of dwarf pines which by
the growth of centuries, though mossy with age, had barely reached three feet in
altitude. Next they came to masses and fragments of naked rock heaped